Method to the Madness Engineering Short Stories!
by CinnamonSynonym
Summary: Set before Gnomeregan became irradiated, Method to the Madness is a complilation of the "adventures" of a young gnomish engineer and his less than savory business practices.
1. Shady Business in Numbers

Back before Gnomeregan was invaded, there used to be a small building on the corner of Whistle Street and Geartonk Lane. The building was completely covered with gears and other whirring contraptions. On the building there was a sign that read...

_Eaji "Fix It" Ardsov's Engineering Emporium and Repair Shop_

Just outside, a gnome was crossing the street with a box near the size of him being carried by his hands, or rather, his torso. The gnome's pink hair shot out wildly in every direction like a explosion. However, the gnome's hair was the only thing that was wild. A tailored and steam pressed suit fit closely to the gnome's three foot two form. The coat had specks of dirt on it, most likely due to the gnome's labors with a box nearly the size of him. The gnome moved into the store, having difficulty negotiating the doorway with his load in hand, but eventually successfully getting inside.

Inside, the room was full of gogs, gears, whirling gizmos, gyrochronatoms, harm prevention belts, tonks, gnomish universal remotes and various metal frames. Toward the back of the untidy mess was a large white counter cleared of clutter, with a gnome sitting on a high stool behind it. The gnome had a full head of bright green hair that fell around his head in a bowl except for over his face, where he had pushed it back. He also had an extremely long mustache that was singed on the tips from some ill-fated engineering venture and a furry goatee.

The pink-haired gnome struggled with his luggage through the winding paths of the store, and after several moments managed to get the large box on the table. "Eaji, I need you to fix this. I had to dismantle it to get it here, so some assembly is required."

The green haired gnome, apparently named Eaji, looked into the box and whistled. "You do realize that assembly costs a few extra silver, correct Mr. Kobbins?"

Mr. Kobbins rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes, of course! I couldn't ever imagine you just doing something kind once in your life for a fellow gnome and cutting a few charges from a frequent customer's bill. Of course not, because then you wouldn't make enough to run this dump of an engineering shop." It was quite clear that Mr. Kobbins wasn't fond of Eaji or his housekeeping abilities.

"Every little copper helps," Eaji replied with a wide smile that failed to seem warm.

"Fine. How much do I owe you?" Mr. Kobbins managed to grumble between gritted teeth.

"Let's see...looks like you practically fried this baby." Eaji shook his head and made a tsking sound. "Let's run through the list here. One silver, fifty copper for the assembly, one gold for a new arm, forty silver for a new power core, two silver for a few new gears, and an additional one silver if you want me to shine him up and make him look good as new for you."

As each cost was added to the bill, Mr. Kobbins's face began to slowly glow a brighter and brighter red. By the time Eaji looked up, Mr. Kobbins's face was as red as the fireworks behind him.

Eaji's eyebrows raised. "What? I'm giving you a discount here."

"Th-th-this is highway ROBBERY!!!" Mr. Kobbins finally blurted out.

"Look...I'm only making ten silver off of this." Eaji somehow managed to move from his seated position to stand on his stool and put his hands irritably on his hip. "If anything, I'm the one being robbed. If you don't like it, you could always lug your mechanical yeti back home."

Mr. Kobbins calmed down, sighing and resigning himself to Eaji's fee. "Fine, fine! What's the total?"

Eaji started counting on his fingers, but after a few moments, stopped the suspense and just stated the sum. "One gold, foty-four silver, and fifty copper."

Mr. Kobbins groaned, but handed over the cash. Eaji bobbed his head a little and smiled. "Thank you for you business. He'll be ready in three days."

Mr. Kobbins stood and moved his way out of the building, having half the mind to pocket a small cog from off of a rack just to spite the other gnome. However, he decided against it and moved out of the building without incident.

After Mr. Kobbins had left, Eaji chuckled to himself and grinned at the gnome's foolishness. Instead of making only ten silver, he was indeed making fifty. A robbery indeed.


	2. Shady Business in Partnerships

Back before Gnomeregan was invaded, there used to be a small building on the corner of Whistle Street and Geartonk Lane. The building was completely covered with gears and other whirring contraptions. On the building there was a sign that read...

_Eaji "Fix It" Ardsov's Engineering Emporium and Repair Shop_

Just outside, Eaji looked curiously at the building across the street from his shop. The building had several gnomes sprawled out over scaffolding covering its front hammering a large, gaudy sign to it. Several other gnomes looked up at the building with curiosity. Eaji read what the sign said with a slight frown.

_Gear Jammers Corp. You jam it, we'll fix it!_

Eaji stomped his foot. Competition across the street wasn't something a gnome enjoyed. With a grumble, he stormed across the street and into the other store, looking about the building furiously.

What he saw almost disappointed him. The store had plain, whitewashed walls and an extreme amount of shell space, but no wares were in the store yet.

"Hey there! Can I help ya?" a voice suddenly boomed from almost right next to Eaji.

Eaji was startled by the sudden voice, and whirled to see a counter with what was assumedly the proprietor sitting behind it. The gnome was young, with jet black hair falling about his head in an unruly manner, the only thing keeping it back being an oversized pair of goggles that rested on his forehead. Every once and a while, the goggles sagged down under the weight of his hair, and he had to push them back up again. His mouth was split into a wide, foolish, and all too trusting grin as he brushed a few crumbs from a dirty, plain white shirt.

Eaji raised an eyebrow, then glanced at a few half eaten muffins. "...I believe I've interrupted your meal. My apologies."

Despite the politeness, Eaji hardly meant it. He could care less if he interrupted his competitor's lunch any more than if that interruption had caused the competitor to choke on it.

The other gnome, through some strange feat, managed to keep his ludicrous grin plastered to his face while chuckling and talking. "No problem! So...who are you? I don't think I asked for anyone to come in here, not that conversation's a problem!"

Eaji furrowed his brows with slight irritability. "I came in of my own accord, thank you. I happen to be the competition across the street you so kindly decided to snub by setting up shop nearby."

Eaji hadn't thought it possible, but the gnome's grin managed to widen even further. "Oh! You must be Eaji "Fix It"! I'm Greilo Arkenheim. Glad to meet ya."

Eaji's brows twitched at his last name being left out, muttered his full name under his breath, and then composed himself by coughing into a small fist. "Ehem...yes. That would happen to be me. Nice to meet you...I guess?"

"Of course it's nice to meet ya," Greilo said, followed by another chuckle. "As they say, know your enemy! Isn't that your reason for coming here?"

Eaji sighed softly. "Actually, I had other ideas in mind."

Greilo raised an eyebrow, his curiosity piqued. "Like what?"

He had to think fast. This Greilo figure didn't seem like the brightest of individuals. If Eaji played this right, he could possibly come out of his situation on top. With this in mind, he put on his best smile. "I was actually considering a business partnership."

_Two days later..._

Eaji sat peacefully on the porch of his store, looking about with a smile and swinging his feet from time to time. The gears that ticked repetitively throughout the city lulled him into a sense of calm, and he was enjoying a well deserved day of rest.

Suddenly, his brows furrowed deeply as his carefully formed sense of peace shattered. The reason he was able to relax was because his competition had taken most of his customers away, including Mr. Kobbins, who happened to be coming down the street that moment.

Mr. Kobbins whistled loudly to himself as he strolled slowly past Eaji, then back the way he came. He continued to pace in front of the store, moving back and forth several times as Eaji's patience wore away with the shine on Mr. Kobbins' shoes.

Finally, Eaji cleared his throat and spoke irritably. "Go in or go away. You're going to wear a rut in my sidewalk."

Mr. Kobbins quirked an eyebrow, looking amused. "Me? A rut in the metal sidewalk? You're good at making jokes, Eaji. And what makes it your's?"

"Believe it or not, Mr. Kobbins," Eaji said as his gaze sharpened on the other gnome, "I happen to own my plot of land through legal means. That includes the sidewalk. Trust me, I read my deed once a month."

Mr. Kobbins paused and snorted with amusement. "You would be the only gnome to skulk over your fortunes in such a way."

Eaji frowned slightly and stood. "I'm sure you whittle away your time reading your own deeds daily," Eaji said while his brows furrowed. "While you likely get quite the kick out of it, I care enough about my property to know important things like its boundaries, something you are rather ignorant of at the present moment."

Mr. Kobbins now outright burst into laughter. "Eaji, if I were to read my deeds, it would take far longer than a month for me to read them all!"

Eaji crossed his arms over his chest and tapped his foot impatiently. "I believe you were leaving?"

Mr. Kobbins grinned at Eaji, gave him a taunting half wave, half finger waggle, and turned to cross the street and enter Gear Jammers.

Eaji sat down again and glumly rested his head in the palm of his hand. His "partnership" had so far turned out fruitless. Dark thoughts rested on his mind for several minutes until he heard a door slam. Eaji looked up with surprise to see Mr. Kobbins stalking out of Gear Jammers while grumbling to himself.

Eaji later learned that when Greilo charged more than he normally did, Mr. Kobbins had tried to haggle with him, which resulted in a permanent loss in his equipment. "Regrettably", this was the third time that this had happened. However, both Eaji and Greilo knew where things were going. It would seem that Greilo hadn't forgotten their partnership, after months later, Eaji stood in the same place on the street watching the same gnomes take down the same sign they had put up. Things were beginning to go back to normal. The only true difference was that Eaji now had almost twice as many customers as before. Since Gear Jammer's grand opening was well known throughout the surrounding area in the city, Eaji's own store had been noticed. When Gear Jammers proved to be a bust, they all turned and flocked into Eaji's waiting arms.

Unfortunately, that left Eaji with a small problem: he couldn't possibly hope to service all of his customers on his own. It was lucky for him that there was able labor in the neighborhood. As Eaji had agreed, Greilo was immediately hired at Eaji's Engineering Emporium in exchange that he closed down his business with class. The deal was, of course, kept quiet from the public, and most were none the wiser. Even more to Eaji's favor, Greilo was quite unintelligent as far as gnomes went, otherwise his plan wouldn't have worked in the first place. Yet, not only did he avert a major crisis, he had gotten Greilo to agree to only receive a quarter of the pay, citing the "many costs of maintaining a shop and various other expenses" (such as saving for a new house) should reasonably take up half their resources.

All in all, it was a fairly profitable partnership.


	3. Shady Business in the Store

Back before Gnomeregan was invaded, there used to be a small building on the corner of Whistle St. and Geartonk Ln. The building was completely covered with gears and other whirring contraptions. It recently had undergone changes that gave it a small shoot for firing fireworks through every once and a while if the owner got bored, and had a large storage addition on the back. On the building there was a sign that read...

_Eaji "Fix It" Reis Ardsov's Engineering Emporium and Repair Shop_

Just outside, a gnome of average height walked across the street and pause just in front of the doorway to Eaji's Engineering Emporium. He made a failed attempt to smooth back his wild hair, then sighed and contented himself with straightening the goggles on his forehead and tugging on his gnome sized trench coat.

Inside, the gnome was met with an odd sight. The shop was...

...Clean?

He blinked to himself a few times as he looked at the clean, organized rows of engineering mayhem and paraphernalia stacked and stuffed into shelves three times a gnome's height. He still couldn't see the counter in the back and there was now so many shelves stuffed into the small building that navigating between them became a risky proposition, but an actually tidy building was almost as rare in Gnomeregan as an orc was, what with all the messes engineering "accidents" made. And the gnome certainly didn't remember the file he had found on the proprietor of the store, Eaji Reis Ardsov, describing him as particularly...clean.

With a shrug, he weaved through the shelves, trying not to imagine the shelves swaying precariously over him. They were so loaded down that he thought they might tumble if he bumped into one. He was beginning to rethink his assessment of "tidy". The shelves became more menacing as he moved on and it dawned on him just what a hazard they were to a small gnome like himself.

Finally, the white-haired gnome reached the counter and tapped the top of the small bell quickly, the sound easily audible throughout the building. He tapped his foot with some degree of impatience as he waited for the proprietor to show himself. After several moments, he grumbled and tapped the bell harder, faster, and with much more irritation.

Finally, the one he assumed was Eaji walked backwards out of the backroom, his voice strained. "Give me a second! I'm...busy...!"

The other gnome slowly raised an eyebrow as he watched Eaji and another gnome carry a box larger than both of them. With a nod from Eaji, the two set the box down next to the counter, and both of them sighed with relief at setting down their load.

Eaji moved behind the counter and looked at the white haired gnome for the first time. He blinked a few times then cocked his head to the side a little as he noticed with some surprise that the other gnome had no package in his hands, either from the shelves or for Eaji to fix.

The white haired gnome simply looked back, looking to be somewhere between irritated and impatient.

Eaji waited a few moments for the other to speak, then leaned forward onto the counter a little and politely cleared his throat. "And what can I do for you good sir?" The gnome finally spoke, and did so with his voice lowered slightly. "Is there somewhere we can talk where ears won't hear?" "Of course," Eaji said while frowning slightly. His eyes narrowed slightly as he regarded the white haired gnome cautiously for a moment, then he pushed off of his stool and moved toward the back. "Come with me. Greilo! Mind the counter while I'm in back."

They moved into a narrow hallway with whitewashed walls and a few bland, uncreative pictures. One door led to another storage room that was even more tightly packed than the front room, but Eaji turned and walked through another door that led off into a small side room that had a small iron table, two chairs, several file cabinets, and an automatic gnomish cocoa maker.

The white haired gnome smirked a little bit when they entered the room. "Well, you sure don't waste any space, Mr. Ardsov."

Eaji sat down in the chair farther from the door, put his elbows on the table, and clasped his hands together face down. "Now then, what can I do for you, Mister..." Eaji trailed off as he rested his head lightly on his white haired gnome draped his trench coat over the back of the chair, but remained standing. "Darold. Darold Dingear. You see, I have a situation with a certain...Mr. Kobbins. You know him?"

Eaji shrugged lightly. "Agreeable enough gnome, I suppose. Deep pockets."

Darold smiled slightly. "Too deep, in my opinion."

Eaji raised an eyebrow. "And I'm assuming that it's my job to fix that, Darold? You don't mind if I call you that, do you?"

Darold shook his head lightly. "Go ahead, Mr. Ardsov. And, yes, it is your job, if you accept."

Eaji frowned slightly, weighing the pros and cons. He didn't particularly like Mr. Kobbins, but he was his biggest customer. If he found out, Eaji's business may very well end up going under. However, Darold may very well come back for more jobs if Eaji didn't screw up, and he might be the kind of man that paid very we--

"I happen to be paying top gold, Mr. Ardsov," Darold said, interrupting Eaji's thoughts.

"Just how top are we talking?" Eaji looked at the ceiling, pretending to seem uninterested.

"Twenty gold. That enough for your liking?" Darold smirked a bit when he noticed the other gnome's eyebrows twitching.

Eaji shifted slightly in his chair, moving to rest the side of his head on one palm while scratching his chin with the other. Judging by the payment, the work may very well be dangerous. But...twenty gold could go a long way if a gnome knew how to use it.

At last, Eaji grunted softly. "...I'm listening."

Darold nodded, then turned to face one of the file cabinets, tracing a finger over the label on each individual shelf while he spoke. "Recently, Mr. Kobbins has opened a large factory near my shop. While the fact that his business has nearly run my business into the ground is bad enough, he's already ready to expand, and wants to take my property off my hands, if you understand me."

Eaji nodded sympathetically. "An understandable problem to have with him."

Darold shrugged lightly, smiling a bit as he reached the I-J cabinet, then paused and looked over at Eaji. "For obvious reasons, I'm not interested. I'm commissioning you to destroy his factory. Bring the roof down, destroy the supports, do it however you want. Make it obvious, make it subtle, I don't care. Just make sure that when Mr. Kobbins wakes up the next morning, he wakes up to a broken factory."

Darold then went back to the cabinets, looking at the next shelf down. He smirked coolly to himself as his hand traced over the name 'Kobbins'. "Take his mind off of expanding to maybe quieting down for a while."

Eaji rapped his fingers on the iron table several times while he thought to himself. Finally, he nodded. "...Very well. Consider it demolicized within the week."

Darold continued to stare at the tag that said 'Kobbins' on it. "Within the day, Mr. Ardsov. I am not fond of delays."

"The day?" Eaji frowned slightly as he straightened in his chair. "That will be...difficult."

Darold looked over at Eaji with a smirk. "What, one day not enough time for the great Mr. Ardsov?"

Eaji looked grumpily at Darold. "Perhaps, perhaps not. Either way, I expect to be paid extra for my troubles."

Darold frowned slightly as he considered this, but at last crossed his arms and nodded. "You're as hard a bargainer as I've heard. Very well, I'll pay ten gold extra."

Eaji waited a few moments in the hope Darold would raise the payment even more, but it seemed he had pushed his luck enough. "Very well. It will be demolicized immediately. Come here tomorrow and be ready to pay."

Eaji held out his hand to shake with a small smile. "Well then, if we're in accordance..."

Darold shook the hand firmly, smiling back. "We are."

With that, Darold picked his coat up off the chair and left the room. Several moments later, Eaji heard the door to the front of the shop open and close. He rested in his chair for several moments, letting his thoughts of what was to come to run wild. By the time Greilo had moved into the room to find out why it was so quiet, Eaji was grinning from ear to ear.


	4. Shady Business in the Factory

Back before Gnomeregan was invaded, there used to be a small building on the corner of Whistle St. and Geartonk Ln. The building was completely covered with gears and other whirring contraptions. It recently had undergone changes that gave it a small shoot for firing fireworks through every once and a while if the owner got bored, and had a large storage addition on the back. On the building there was a sign that read...

_Eaji "Fix It" Ardsov's Engineering Emporium and Repair Shop_

Outside, the city's clocks rang midnight and Eaji crept outside of the store, looking somewhat bulkier than usual. He peered around to make sure no one was around, then turned and took a step...

...directly into Mr. Kobbins.

Both fell to the ground with cries of surprise. Mr. Kobbins was the first to recover, standing quickly and brushing off his suit. "What in the nether are you doing out here so late, Eaji!?"

Eaji stood up more slowly, not brushing himself off and struggling to think of something to say. "I...had some parts coming in tonight. I just finished getting everything together and such."

Mr. Kobbins nodded with a chuckle. "Indeed. I do know the feeling. I've stayed up late until this hour reading my deeds on frequent occasion. I feel it calms me to know just what an outrageous fortune I'm sitting on. Helps me sleep at night."

Eaji breathed a small sigh of relief as Mr. Kobbins believed the fib and relaxed visibly. Still, he was rather confused as to why Mr. Kobbins himself was here. And more importantly, why was he telling him about what made him sleep soundly at night? There were some things Eaji preferred not to talk about with his customers, and one of them was their private lives.

Mr. Kobbins suddenly began reaching out for Eaji's shirt, his eyes intent on several clumps of crumbs from some midnight snack or another that had gotten on it. "Eaji...clean your bloody shirt once and a while."

Eaji quickly pushed Mr. Kobbins's hand away, trying to make the gesture look casual. He happened to have hidden several sticks of dynamite under his shirt. If Mr. Kobbins touched them and started asking questions, things could go very poorly very quickly.

"No, it's alright, Mr. Kobbins. I would...uhm...prefer you to not touch me?" Eaji tried to give Mr. Kobbins his best winning smile.

Mr. Kobbins shrugged lightly, then suddenly seemed to remember who he was talking to. "Ehem...I...yes, I don't think I'd want to touch you, either."

Eaji cleared his throat as both started to feel awkward. "...Maybe we should just go our separate ways. You know how it is, Mr. Kobbins. Up late, just finished a full day of work, and _wanting to sleep._"

Mr. Kobbins shook his head. "Yes, yes. Quite right. Well, can't believe I'm saying this, Eaji, but...ah..." Mr. Kobbins reddened a bit. "Good on ya, Eaji."

Eaji scratched the back of his head. "Err...good on you, too, I think?"

Both gnomes immediately continued on their way, which conveniently meant in the opposite directions. Both gnomes also grew extremely red

After twenty more minutes of walking, Eaji reached the factory. The building truly was a massive structure, with several massive gears turning on the sides to power the building. Eaji frowned slightly as he circled the building, looking for an entrance from a distance.

Finally, he found his entryway. There was a blind spot in the camera system by one of the massive gears that powered the factory. Eaji quickly set up shop. He removed the black cloth he had been using to keep the dynamite safely stashed under his shirt and wrapped it around his head in a mask and a hood. After that, he strung the dynamite around him like a bandolier, and moved as swiftly as a somewhat out of shape gnome could towards the gear.

Eaji clambered onto one of the moving teeth of the gear with some trouble, but eventually was using the gear like an elevator up to a small ventilation shaft. It was then that he realized he had a problem: the gear was still moving, and the ventilation shaft was covered.

With a soft groan, Eaji hopped onto the next tooth of the gear while pulling out a arclight spanner. He then began to pry off the bolts keeping the cover on while hopping to the next tooth whenever necessary, a process that caused him to nearly fall on five occasions.

Eaji breathed a sigh of relief once he made it inside, and quickly crawled through the ventilation shafts, which allowed so much space that even a human might have been able to crawl through if he kept on his stomach.

Soon, he was on a second floor platform moving towards the back of the building. His trip went more or less without incident as he reached the back and found a flight of stairs going down to the floor below.

The factory floor itself was a single megalithic room filled with pipes, machines, and conveyor belts. Eaji moved himself behind a rather large and noisy automatic steam punch that was punching large holes in sheets of metal and belting off enough steam that Eaji finally understood why ventilation shafts were always so large.

Eaji was about to dart to another machine, but he noticed a few overly chatty gnomes making their rounds. It was quite fortunate for him that they were somehow _louder _than the machine he was right next to, otherwise he would have been caught by them out in the open.

Eaji held his breath, as if the two gnomes could have heard him breathing over the machine, much less their own voices, until the patrol had passed. He then rushed towards his first of three targets.

He crouched down by a massive pillar that seemed to be one of the main supports for the back of the factory. However, the pillar hummed and vibrated of massive fans pumping air throughout the ventilation system. Mr. Kobbins had installed three such supports in the back that doubling as air ventilation in order to save time and money. Little did he know it would cost him a lot of carefully placed a sticky patch of ten dynamite strung together on the pillar then wheeled out a long string. He then lit a match and then the string. If he had measured correctly, he would have two minutes to set the other charges. He moved on and repeated the movements with the other two pillars, before running a bit off towards the main entrance. He hadn't planned a way out yet, but he was hoping he caused enough ruckus that the front door wouldn't be too obvious in the chaos.

His thoughts were interrupted by the detonation of the first pack of dynamite, which coincidentally did more damage than Eaji expected and took out half the base of the pillar. Two more explosions went off in rapid succession and the factory suddenly shut down, leaving the factory eerily quiet for several moments as the machines stopped their endless tasks.

Then, the roof began to collapse with a loud crack and the automatic alarms blared wildly.

Eaji admired his handiwork, blinking rapidly. His plan had worked better than he thought. The entire back half of the roof was collapsing, and that would inevitably crush almost everything under it-- Eaji suddenly realized that "everything under it" included him. With a loud cry, he turned and began to run for his life to escape the ensuing cave in. He charged the front door, clambering over conveyor belts in record time, weaving around pipes, and ignoring the wild cries, screams, and hollers of the few gnomes on patrol in the building. Eaji pumped his short little legs as hard as he could to keep ahead of the collapsing ceiling just behind him. The scene left so much in utter disarray that Eaji made his mad dash through the factory and out the door almost unnoticed.

Eaji panted heavily and collapsed backwards until the ground. He chuckle hysterically for a few minutes before finally pulling himself back together both physically and mentally. With a sigh, he pushed himself to his feet, pulled off his mask, and hurried his way home. Luckily, he made it back without incident.

_The next day..._

Eaji sighed happily to himself as he gazed down at thirty shining gold coins on his table. He looked up to see that from the look on Darold's face, he wasn't the only one who was pleased.

"Well, Mr. Ardsov. It's been good doing business with you," Darold said while holding his hand out to shake. "Maybe I'll come by some other time when if I run into more problems."

Eaji smiled a bit. "I'd hope not. I have a feeling your 'problems' will have a habit of nearly killing me."

Darold shrugged. "Got a point. Well, I have...business...to attend to. Good day."

Eaji watched Darold go with some manner of relief, only to be surprised by a furious Mr. Kobbins storming straight towards his store. Eaji sat still for a few moments, stunned that he had found him out so quickly. In a hurry, he began trying to pile the gold together and get it under the counter.

Darold and Mr. Kobbins met at the door, bumping shoulders and continuing on their way without looking back, though Mr. Kobbins, as usual, deigned to brush off any dust he may have received from coming into contact with another physical object. Eaji barely had enough time to hide the gold under the counter before Mr. Kobbins had stomped his way up to him.

Eaji tried to smile weakly, holding up his hands innocently. "...Err...pleasant...day...Mr. Kobbins?"

Mr. Kobbins growled and thumped his hand on the counter, which of course nearly set him into a howling fit when he hit the counter too hard. "Not. At. All," he managed to seethe through clenched teeth.

Eaji winced a little, starting to look cowed. "And...uh...what can I...do for you?"

Suddenly, Mr. Kobbins looked at Eaji confusedly, as if he had forgotten his reason for being there. "...Do?"

"You...came in here...for a reason, right?" Eaji began to hope against hope he wasn't about to get hided.

Mr. Kobbins suddenly scowled again. "Ah, yes! That's right. My factory's been destroyed! And you..." He pointed an angry finger at Eaji, who had to use every smooth salesman tactic he knew to keep from bolting for the door.

"...are going to fix it!" Mr. Kobbins finished. "Two gold a day...get it done as fast as possible!"

Eaji paused, considered the statement, considered it a second time, blinked fives times, then considered the statement a third time. It then suddenly occurred to him that his life wasn't about to be cut tragically short, and he immediately reverted back to his old self as if nothing had happened.

"Ehem, well!" Eaji beamed at Mr. Kobbins. "This is all well and good, but...if I worked on it alone, you'd be paying me for a year or more. I heard the whole roof came crashing down with some of the workers still in it."

Mr. Kobbins blinked a few times, then chuckled despite himself, the sheer absurdity of the statement breaking his melancholy somewhat. "Eaji, what do you take me for? You'll have plenty of workers to assist you."

Eaji frowned slightly. "...Not goblin slave labor from Stranglethorn or the Echo Isles, is it?"

Mr. Kobbins shook his head. "Light, no! I would never do such a thing, Eaji."

Eaji grinned and offered his hand. "Then we have an agreement. It'll be fixicized within the month."


End file.
